The present invention generally relates to vehicle maintenance, and more particularly to the vehicle monitoring in conjunction with analytics to track and determine proper vehicle maintenance schedules as it pertains to current and upcoming usage.
Vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, and the like use various wearable components and fluids that break down over time and need to be serviced. As such, vehicle manufacturers have provided a maintenance schedule for a vehicle with information such as how often the vehicle should be serviced. For example, the maintenance schedule may specify how often various fluids and/or components should be replaced, cleaned, adjusted, inspected, etc.
In addition, vehicles have included a fault detection system with visual indicators such as lights and meters that notify an owner when the vehicle should be serviced. Examples of such indicators include a check engine light, a lower oil pressure light, a charging system light, a brake system light, a temperature gauge, etc. Maintenance of some wearable components such as tires, windshield washer blades, etc. have been specified by the manufacturer of the component and/or determined through visual inspection.
Vehicle owners often take their vehicles to a mechanic for service rather than perform the maintenance on the vehicle themselves. Unfortunately, the owner may not always be aware of when their vehicle needs service. For instance, the owner may not remember or know that a component should be replaced after 50,000 miles, which may not be reached for 2 or more years after the purchase of the vehicle. Even when the owner is aware that the vehicle should be serviced, the owner has to locate a mechanic that performs the particular type of service and find the time to bring the vehicle to the mechanic. Moreover, the owner often has to wait at the service station until the service is completed or otherwise find temporary transportation. In some cases, the mechanic must bear the liability and expense of providing such temporary transportation.